Selim Raihan

Bangladesh has successfully met all three criteria for LDC graduation in the first review in March 2018. It is expected that Bangladesh will be able to meet the graduation criteria in the second review in 2021 and will finally graduate from the LDC status in 2024.

Remarkable growth experience and development of the East Asian countries (South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, and Hong Kong) during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s led to the emergence of the discourse of “East Asian Development Model.”

The concept of South Asia as a region is largely inherited from the British colonial legacy, with some exceptions.

Bangladesh has made a major transition in its trade policy from a protectionist stance to a freer trade regime since the early 1990s as is reflected by the reduction in the average tariff rate from as high as 105 percent in 1990 to 13 percent in 2016

Despite the fact that Bangladesh made considerable progress in gross-enrolment in primary education for both genders, the country is seriously lagging behind in ensuring quality education for all. Because data for many of the targets related to Goal 4 are not available, we have studied a few available indicators which are consistent with the goal 4.

Public health expenditure as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) is only 0.8 percent in Bangladesh which is one of the lowest in South Asia.

Jobless" growth is the phenomenon when an economy experiences growth without an expansion of jobs. In recent times, South Asia is considered to be the fastest growing region in the world.

The regional integration and cooperation initiative in South Asia started with the formation of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) in 1985.

How should we read the SDGs as far as the priorities of the South Asian countries are concerned? In my view, SDG 7 (affordable and clean energy), SDG 8 (decent work and economic growth) and SDG 9 (industry, innovation, and infrastructure) are at the heart of priorities mainly because of the fact that South Asian countries have national priorities aligned with these SDGs, and more importantly, these SDGs have strong linkages with other SDGs.

If we look at the growth pattern of Bangladesh from 1990, we discover two specific characteristics...

Discussions on the proposed national budget for the FY2017-18 need to be placed in the current context of six major economic challenges in Bangladesh.

How do we substantially increase the manufacturing value-added share in GDP and thus promote manufacturing led economic growth in South Asia?

In 2014, 14 percent of the globally unemployed were young people (aged between 15 and 24). However, the situation was not uniform

Bangladesh economy's impressive growth performance over the past two and half decades has raised hopes about the country's

There are risks of trade wars between the dominant countries in the coming years, which will certainly undermine the prospects of such 'global partnership'.

Special Economic Zones (SEZs) are geographically delineated 'enclaves' in which regulations and practices related to business and trade differ from the rest of the country and therefore all the units therein enjoy special privileges. SEZs can generate both static and dynamic benefits.

Though There is a strong demand for a deeper regional integration in South Asia, the progress has been rather slow.

For meaningful comparisons among different countries with respect to their levels and trends in income inequality, we need comparable data.

Heoretically, trade liberalisation results in productivity gains through increased competition, efficiency, innovation and acquisition of new technology.

The aspiration for deeper regional integration is high on the political agenda of most of the leaders in South Asia. Since the early